


Swaying

by krsw1151



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:09:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krsw1151/pseuds/krsw1151
Summary: The life of a shinobi is dangerous, a fact Tenten becomes all to aware of. After a certain incident, she wonders if she'll ever be able to return to the way things were. With the help of her friends and family, particularly a pale eyed young man and a gruff grandfather, she learns that while the road to recovery is a difficult one, it isn't impossible.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	1. Prologue: Under the Swaying Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I haven't written Naruto fic in a long time. I had some on my old account that got deleted and its been awhile.
> 
> I do want to advise, in the future, this fic will contain violent themes (that's why I'm rating it M) such as PTSD and possible sexual content. Every chapter I will make note on what themes the chapter contains but please be advised that if you do not want to read about such content or feel bothered by it, please don't read. This fic if for entertainment purposes only and I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. I love Nejiten and I refuse to accept Neji's death. This is set in cannonverse but will be a sort of retelling of the story. Please enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

As she gazed up at the leaves swaying in the wind, Tenten smiled, enjoying the tranquility of the here and now.

She sat at the base of a tree, back resting against the rough bark that had seen years of shinobi training. Several kunai were laid out around her, an unfurled scroll not too far away. She held one of the knives in her hand, mindlessly twirling it as she watched the leaves dance. A polishing cloth was draped over her leg, threatening to float off in the breeze.

The wind felt nice on her face, causing Tenten to close her eyes and let out a content, inaudible sigh. It was moments like this that made her most happy. Between all the missions and the hustle and bustle of training, it was rare to find a peaceful moment. Whenever they presented themselves, Tenten liked to take advantage of them. She was embracing her youthfulness as Gai-sensei would say.

She let out a quiet laugh, finding it funny and slightly horrifying that she was thinking like her crazy teacher. Five years of knowing him did that she supposed.

"What's so funny?" asked the deep voice from her left.

Tenten moved her gaze from the tree branches to her teammate, Neji, who was, or at least had been, meditating, back to the tree like hers was. His eyes were closed and he was still in the relaxed posture, but Tenten noticed that his eyebrow was raised a little higher than normal as he awaited her answer.

She shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "Just thinking about Gai-sensei."

The way Neji's mouth twisted slightly caused Tenten to laugh again. Since Neji's face was usually blank and stoic, his facial expressions, especially those of disgust, were very funny to bear witness to.

He opened his eyes at her second laugh and stared at her. "I can't imagine why you're thinking about him when it's so peaceful here."

"Oh come on," Tenten said with her laughter still apparent in her tone, "you love him."

"Tolerate is the more correct term."

Tenten shrugged again, a smile still gracing her lips. Whether he would ever admit it or not (which means never), Neji still had good feelings for his teacher. Even if they were buried deep down within a dark corner of Neji's soul that he had locked away and had thrown away the key to.

Tenten turned back to her kunai, picking up the rag and resuming her polishing. "You are right though, it is peaceful today," she turned her eyes skyward again as her fingers moved. "I wish more days could be as nice as this one."

Neji looked on with her. "We are blessed to have such fortunate weather."

Tenten hummed. "It makes me just want to sit here for the rest of the day until sundown," she groaned. "Too bad I have to help my grandfather out later."

Neji smirked. "Truly unfortunate."

Tenten gave him an indignant look. "It is, you've met him."

"I have. He is a strong willed veteran."

"You mean senile old man." Tenten pouted. She loved her grandfather more than anything, but unless you spent enough time around him to get used to his personality, it was like trying to hold a conversation with a wall. It was impossible.

She finished polishing her kunai and moved on to the next one. "What about you? Anymore plans?"

Neji nodded. "Hiashi-sama asked me to train with Hanabi-sama later this afternoon."

"How is she doing?" Tenten asked. "Hinata mentioned that she's getting even stronger."

"Hinata-sama would be right," Neji responded. "Hanabi-sama is close to mastering the Kaiten."

Tenten paused in her polishing and looked at him, surprise lighting up her features. "Seriously? Isn't she twelve?"

Neji cocked an eyebrow. "I was younger when I mastered it. It shouldn't be that inconceivable for Hanabi-sama to already be at the level she is."

"Yeah, but you're you," Tenten waved her kunai a little, eyes narrowing when she caught sight of his smirk. "And don't take that the wrong way."

"What way?" Neji asked, feigning innocence. "I took it as a compliment."

"Don't," Tenten went back to her task, cheeks reddening slightly. "Your ego is inflated enough."

Neji laughed, which in reality was just an exhale of air while he smiled. "I have no idea of what you're talking about."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," Tenten muttered. "I could still take you."

Neji raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening. "What was that, Tenten? Didn't quite hear you."

Tenten glared at him halfheartedly, raising her kunai in challenge. "Don't act so smug. I might not have as many wins as you but I have beaten you plenty of times before. Plus, I know your weaknesses better than anyone."

"Is that a fact?" Neji challenged back.

"Yep," Tenten could feel a smirk of her own rising to her lips. "I know the limit of your stamina; I know how good you are at Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu; and, I know where your blind spot is, your greatest weakness of all."

Neji hummed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Seems like you do have it all down."

Tenten smirked in triumph, settling back against the tree to silently celebrate her victory in this not-quite-an-argument-argument, until he spoke again.

"Since you know all that, you're one of the only people I trust to watch my back in the middle of battle."

The way he said it, like complimenting her was something he did on a daily basis and not some once in a blue moon, stars aligned occurrence is what made her face turn so red it could give Hinata a run for her money. Tenten knew he trusted her with his life like she did him with hers, but to have him say it so bluntly and without conviction made her want to smile hugely and hide away in a deep hole from embarrassment.

The fact that he wore the most smug expression on his face that she had ever seen made it very clear that he knew exactly what he said.

With the determination to retaliate and the need to have an excuse for her flushed cheeks, she jumped up from her position and fired the kunai she was holding in his direction as she created distance between them. She didn't aim for his face but to the side of his head. He didn't even flinch when the knife embedded itself in the tree a mere inch away from his ear.

It made her smile though. Seeing the length of his trust in her to know that he didn't need to dodge was flattering.

Neji looked way too amused. "Didn't we already spar an hour ago?"

Tenten grinned, already feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "So what if we did? Don't tell me you're scared of taking me on twice in one day."

Neji smiled as he rose from the ground. "Not at all. Though," he took his typical fighting stance. "I'm more worried for you, you have far less stamina than I do."

Tenten scoffed, unfurling a scroll from her waist holster. "I thought trash talking was unbecoming of you, Hyuuga."

"I'm not trash talking, I'm stating a fact."

Tenten didn't even give him a chance to smirk before she was unleashing a barrage of shuriken at him.

They fell into a pattern that they had perfected over the years. She attacked, he retaliated. He attacked, she retaliated. Sometimes their sparring sessions mirrored previous ones and during others, one of them would do something completely unexpected and the other would quickly analyze and counter. It was something Tenten wished would never change.

They had been teammates for five years now. With Gai-sensei and Lee always strengthening their Taijutsu skills, Neji and Tenten had turned to each other for a sparring partner. At first, Tenten had seen that her abilities were subpar compared to his, a fact that he had noticed as well. He never outright said it, but Tenten knew that he didn't take her as seriously as one should take an opponent. It had pissed her off quite a bit and she didn't really like Neji when they started out as Genin.

That all changed however when during one of their sessions, she had a moment of what was probably pure adrenaline (most likely a mixture from the fight and her anger towards him) and had sent flurries of senbon at him. For whatever reason, his reaction time was slower than normal and he wasn't able to get away fast enough. Luckily, she hadn't hit any vital points, but his right arm ended up looking like a porcupine.

After Tenten's thousand apologies and a trip to the hospital to make sure Neji wasn't going to die, he looked her dead in the eye and said, "I'm glad it was you. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to miss my arteries."

She grew to like him after that wayward compliment.

The bond between them was unbreakable. All members of Team Gai held a respect for each other, but the connection shared with Neji and Tenten was something else. It was a trust that ran so deep that they didn't have to worry about anything else as long as the other was around to watch their back.

More than sparring partners, they were best friends. When Lee and Gai got up to their usual antics, the two of them would share an eyeroll and suffer on the sidelines together. In some ways, they were trauma bonded. If there was one thing that only Lee and Gai could do, it was to top their most ridiculous stunt with something ten times more embarrassing. Both Neji and Tenten saw things that they could never unsee and the only other person who understood that level of trauma was the other person in their pair.

Neji tried to hit a chakra point in her shoulder but she flipped out of the way at the last second. At some point in their fight he had brought her into close combat. She summoned a bo staff from her scroll and was using the momentum of the weapon to make complicated flips and twists to avoid a direct hit from the Gentle Fist.

Being locked in this close quarters fight, Tenten was able to take in every facial expression Neji made. They were always so miniscule, one really needed to be close to him to see the differences between them and his usual impassive face. He went from smug overconfidence to serious concentration. There would be a tiny uplift of his mouth whenever he landed a hit and a slight furrow of his brow everytime she managed to dodge. He didn't even wince when one of her kunai barely grazed his forearm. Watching his face cycle through these expressions was one of Tenten's favorite things about sparring with him.

Unfortunately, Tenten wasn't able to dodge a direct hit to the chakra point on her elbow. The sudden sting due to the loss of chakra caused her grip on her staff to slacken and Neji easily overturned the battle. He used a leg to hook one of her legs out from under her and in that moment of surprise, he took the staff out of her grip. She fell to the ground with a grunt and quickly found the end of her staff pointing at her throat.

It was quiet for a moment before Neji broke it and said in the most condescending voice he was probably capable of, "I win."

"Oh shut up," Tenten groaned and fell flat on her back, catching her breath with a pissed off pout sporting on her face.

Neji did his signature not-laugh again before gracefully taking a seat next to her. "You do know that fighting angry isn't going to help you in battle."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Neither is fighting overconfident yet here we are."

Neji leaned back on his hands. "Confidence stems from victory."

Tenten glared at him before shifting her gaze. The sun was almost directly overhead and the sky was filled with giant, puffy white clouds that floated by at a leisurely pace. She had a feeling that Shikamaru was off somewhere enjoying the same sight she was.

When she spotted one that looked a little familiar to her, she raised a hand and pointed. "Doesn't that one kinda look like Lee?"

Neji followed her gaze and twisted his face in confusion, "How can that possibly look like Lee?"

"It looks like his hair," she waved her hand for emphasis. "See? How it makes that bowl shape?"

Neji didn't look convinced. "If that is what you would like to believe."

Tenten rolled her eyes and gave him a good natured smile. "It's called having an imagination. Not everything needs to be so cut and dry, Neji."

Neji huffed. "I'm a practical person. I prefer things to be cut and dry."

"So do I," Tenten said. "But every once in a while, it's nice to be uncertain of things and just enjoy them for that. Like seeing shapes in floating clouds."

Neji was silent for a moment. "You're starting to sound like Shikamaru."

Tenten laughed, "Maybe he's got the right idea."

The wind blew by just then. A few strands of hair that had come undone from her buns brushed her forehead. She could see Neji's own from the corner of her eye lifted in the breeze. It was such a nice moment, so quiet and calm. These moments, after they were done sparring, were ones she always looked forward to.

They sat like this everytime they finished training. Usually they would recline against a tree under the shade to cool off. Neji would always meditate for an hour after their fight and she would sit a few feet away. Most of the time, she would sharpen her weapons but every once in a while, she would just sit back and relax, enjoying the peaceful moment in time.

When they first began doing it, Tenten would always leave when he started meditating, feeling that she was intruding on a private moment of his. Then, one time when she was packing up her stuff, he ever so casually mentioned that it was okay for her to join him.

She had tried out mediating but quickly discovered it wasn't her forte. Sitting absolutely still and not thinking about anything was hard for her and she was constantly shifting and letting her thoughts drift. So, she settled on cleaning her weapons. She was killing two birds with one stone: maintenance and spending time with Neji.

She watched his hair sway, not for the first time transfixed by how pretty it was. When her eyes travelled from the strands to the profile of his face, Tenten felt a rush of affection wash over her.

She would rather die than tell him that she liked him. Tenten couldn't name a specific time when she fell in love with her best friend. There wasn't any of that dramatic stuff like him saving her at the last minute before being attacked or anything sappy like the way he smiled at her once. There was just one time when Lee and Gai-sensei were doing another stupid stunt and Neji was giving them one of his trademark unimpressed glares that Tenten just knew in her heart that she loved him.

It had happened when they were fifteen, two years ago. Tenten had tried to reason with herself that it was just a brotherly affection, just like the one she saw Lee in, but it quickly became apparent that that was not the case.

She would get the telltale butterflies in her stomach; she would blush whenever he said or did something a certain way to her; she would get unnecessarily worried whenever he was in a pinch even if it was obvious that he could handle himself. It was little things that Tenten would notice that gave confirmation to her thoughts and feelings.

Tenten had divulged this information, when it became obvious to her, to the other girls. Sakura and Hinata had been positively happy when they heard. Hinata even went so far as to say that there was no one else she could picture her cousin to be with (an unexpectedly bold statement from the shy girl that made Tenten very red in the face). Of course Ino, being Ino, after screaming in joy (and shouts of "I knew it!") had demanded that Tenten confess her feelings immediately, an order Tenten had adamantly refused.

Tenten was perfectly content with just staying friends with Neji for the time being, especially since her revelation had come only a few weeks before their second Chunin exams. And if she was being honest with herself, Tenten wanted Neji to make the first move, because she felt that if that job was up to her, she'd want to jump off a bridge in embarrassment.

To some extent even, she felt she wasn't alone in her attraction. After the girl chat, Ino had kept saying that Neji had a thing for her as well, pointing out some of the subtle things that apparently, quote, "every lovestruck guy does when he wants to get some." Tenten had ignored the blonde for the most part, but the other girl's words had made her more aware of the things he said and did.

Such as the way he said her name only slightly different from everyone else, or how he would always check on her wellbeing first when out on a mission even if she was perfectly fine. The little things really did go a long way.

She watched his unwavering eyes gaze at the sky above him. She was patient and was content with waiting for him to make the first move (if her suspicions about him were really true). There was a lot going on right now, with the Akatsuki after Naruto and the many missions her team was being sent on. Plus, she was seventeen, she had plenty of time before a romantic relationship became a prominence in her life.

"We should go," Neji's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "I still have training with Hanabi-sama."

Tenten hummed in agreement, lifting herself up from her position on her back. Neji stood before she did and offered a hand to her. "Ever the gentleman," she thought as she accepted it.

Once up, she dusted herself off and set about collecting her weapons. "Just so you know, I will win next time."

"Oh?" Neji questioned, highly amused. "And how will you go about accomplishing that."

"A kunoichi never reveals her secrets," Tenten said airly. She bent down to seal a katana away in her scroll before slinging the thing over her shoulder, securing its hooks. "You'll just have to use that genius brain of yours to figure it out." She set off in the direction of her home, knowing full well he would follow. He always insisted on walking her home.

Sure enough, his footsteps were behind her instantly before he came into view beside her. "Indeed I shall."

Tenten smiled at him smugly as they walked. They fell into casual conversation along the way, mainly about their team and friends with the occasional teasing comment thrown in. It was comfortable and companionable, something they both enjoyed immensely. When they reached her house, Neji departed with a farewell and Tenten gave him a little wave as she watched him go, taking in his broad shoulders a bit longer than what was necessary before entering her home.

Immediating, before she could even shut the door behind her, a gravelly voice called from within the house, "You're late."

Tenten rolled her eyes as she removed her shoes, "Sorry Gramps. I got caught up training with Neji." She glanced at the clock on the wall and narrowed her eyes. "And from the looks of it there are still eight minutes until four."

Her grandfather scoffed before appearing in the doorway to the kitchen, "You know that when I say four I expect you here at three-thirty."

Tenten mocked bowed. "My deepest apologies to my dearest grandfather."

He scoffed. "Enough with the theatrics and follow me." He turned around and went back the way he came, Tenten following with a grin on her face.

Bingwen Zhou, or Wen as he's called by everyone despite his displeasure, was a man in his early seventies, though he certainly didn't look it. He was tall and muscular and covered in scars from his time as a shinobi. Once dark brown hair had turned silver and was cut short above his ears. His dark brown eyes were narrow and naturally angry looking, a stark contrast to his granddaughter's. At the moment, he only wore dark pants, leaving his upper body in plain view. It was riddled with small nicks and a particularly large and nasty looking scar adorned his hip, an injury he had sustained during the Second Great Shinobi War. If Tenten didn't know him, she would assume he was in his fifties at the latest and a great hobby of hers was watching the shocked faces of those that didn't know him find out his true age. It was quite the spectacle.

He padded quietly through the kitchen and into a small workshop. Wen was a Jonin and skilled Bukijutsu user, as well as a member of the elder council of the village (though he rarely made appearances for he detested politics and could care less about the other elders opinions). People always marvelled at his skill and asked him to train them, but he always adamantly refused, declaring he was no one's teacher and if they were pursuing him, they were wasting their time. He was the most stubborn man Tenten had ever and would ever meet.

The workshop was quite large, stacked to the brim with crates of shuriken and kunai. The far wall was lined with various swords of different types and blades. Shelves were lined with scrolls and various mismatched ninja tools. A large desk sat against a wall, scattered papers and shuriken haphazardly thrown about. A large smithing table stood in the center of the room with Wen's signature scythe lying on top. In the corner of the room stood the altar to Tenten's parents.

Her mother and father had died before she had even become an academy student, having been killed while on a mission. Tenten had foggy memories of her parents, limited to her father teaching her how to properly hold a shuriken and her mother styling her hair. She had been raised by her grandfather since.

Both of them did a slight bow to the picture, as was custom in their household. Tenten gave the picture (the one of her parents on their wedding day) a tiny smile before spinning to face her grandfather. "So what is it you needed my help with?"

Wen pulled a scroll off of one of the shelves, "Unseal everything in here and sharpen them."

Tenten took the scroll and laid it on the smithing table. She bit her thumb and spread the blood over the complicated seals. In a poof of smoke, several throwing knives appeared.

Tenten picked one up and turned it over in her fingers, examining it. It was a heavy handled one with a thin blade and by the looks of it, it had seen some fights. "This is a high quality one, a Black Ronin Triple Bolt," she mused, twirling it around to watch it glint in the light. "Whose is it?"

"An ANBU. Now quit playing with it and get to work, they need to be finished by tomorrow," Wen grunted. He moved to the desk and reached for a stack of forms, squinting at the handwriting.

Tenten smirked as she set about sharpening, still taking time to marvel at the beautiful knife in her hand. "There's nothing wrong with wearing glasses ya know."

Wen grunted again. "I don't need those stupid things," he glared at the paper in his hand. "If you're skilled enough to slit someone's throat without them even noticing then you should be able to write legibly."

Tenten peeked over his shoulder. "Inventory: ten ronin knives; nineteen standard kunai; thirty shuriken; four demon wind shuriken; two sabers."

She grinned at his unimpressed look. "I don't need you giving me sass little brat."

Tenten shrugged, knowing he didn't mean any of his malice. "Tsunade-sama recommended you get glasses for reading. It's common among the old."

Wen scoffed. "That kid has been recommending things to be ever since I've known her, and that was when she was shorter than my knee cap."

Tenten rose a brow, "I would hardly say a woman in her fifties is a kid."

"Listen brat," Wen grudgingly wrote out the list that Tenten recited to him. "Everyone younger than you is a kid and that never changes."

Tenten tilted her chin up in thought. "But you only ever call me brat, never kid."

"That's because you've always been a brat."

Tenten gave him a sour look but Wen remained unfazed. Before she had a chance to comment, he asked, "Have you chosen a weapon yet?"

While talented in Bukijutsu, Wen was nowhere near as versatile with weapons as Tenten was. He mainly stuck to his scythe and various swords, as opposed to his granddaughter who made it a point to master any weapon she so much as touched.

Though he was proud of her for her skill (though it would be hard for him to say it), he still thought it important for her to have a signature weapon, one that she was a grandmaster of. Coming from a long line of weapons smiths, it was a tradition. Wen was a scythe master and her father had been exceptionally skilled with a kusarigama.

Tenten glanced at her father's weapon hanging on the wall and then to the scythe on the table in front of her. She was well versed in practically every weapon, but she had not come upon one that she truly wanted to call her own. At one point, she had wanted her weapon of choice to be a kusarigama like her father, but the blades and chains never felt perfect in her hands. So on the wall it remained and she cycled through the weapons, hoping one day she would find the perfect match.

She still had yet to find it.

Tenten looked down at the knife, seeing her reflection in the blade. "Not quite."

Wen didn't say anything, he only nodded to show that he heard her.

Tenten sighed, "How did you come to choose a scythe?"

"Hiruzen said I couldn't do it when we were Genin. I wanted to prove him wrong."

Tenten gave him a disbelieving look, "You became one of the best scythe wielders ever out of spite?"

"Spite gets you a long way in life," he said plainly.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "I can see that. How did you even make it this far?"

"Good question," he was squinting at the documents again. "Wish I had died already."

Tenten groaned, "Can we not start this again?"

"What?" He gave up trying to read the paper and thrust it in her direction. "A shinobi should die in battle, not from old age and misery. Should've died in the third war."

"If you had died then you wouldn't have been able to raise me. And it says that there will be a shipment of senbon tomorrow."

He took the paper back, "You would've turned out fine even if I hadn't been around, you're a tough little girl."

"I'm seventeen."

"Exactly, a little girl," Wen returned the form to the pile and set about drafting a letter. "How about a bow?"

Tenten shook her head. "Takes too much time to reload."

"A lance?"

"I prefer a bo staff."

"Then why not have that be it?"

"Too predictable."

Wen threw a look over his shoulder, "What the hell does that even mean?"

Tenten shrugged, "I use the bo staff all the time, I used it today even. I want to master a weapon that no one would expect me to choose," her voice lowered slightly. "I just hope that I find it."

Wen stared at her with that sharp, penetrating look that she had seen her whole life. Then he got up and stood beside her, resting a hand on her head and patting it slightly. "You'll find it soon enough, brat."

She gave him a tiny smile in thanks and went back to sharpening. The afternoon bled into evening as the two worked, the sounds of sharpening and scoffs filling the workshop.

~~~

"Has there been any word from Daiki's squad?" Tsunade asked Shizune, entering her office after dinner instead of going drinking like she wanted, Tonton trotting at her heels.

Shizune regarded one of the scrolls in her arms, doing a sort of juggle to make sure the rest didn't fall to the floor, "No ma'am. I don't have any recent reports from them."

"Hmm, that's not like him," Tsunade sat at her desk and pulled out the mission requests for the past week. "He's never missed a report. What did the last one say?"

"They had come upon the village that they were tasked with investigating," Shizune paraphrased the contents of the scroll. "The bar was completely destroyed, as the mission request stated. The bar owner's daughter was reported missing the night of the incident. There was a small blood splatter found on the wall that matches the type of the daughter. Daiki's squad was going to interview villagers and search the surrounding area."

Tsunade hummed, "I've been to that bar before. She's only around twenty years old." She found the mission request. "I sent Daiki because he's an expert at investigation, if anyone can find her it would be him. I also asked him to keep me constantly updated since I know the client personally. When was that report sent?"

"Six days ago, ma'am."

"Tch," Tsunade spun in her chair and looked out the window at the setting sun, biting her thumbnail with a displeased look on her face. The mission was a B-rank and Daiki, a Jonin, and his squad of three Chunin had been dispatched immediately since kidnappings were time sensitive. The chances of a kidnapping victim surviving more than a few days was rare and the more time that passed the lower their chances got.

It would be a week tomorrow and the odds of the girl being alive were slim. Add to the fact that Daiki hadn't reported anything in, the case was beginning to look worse and worse.

Making her decision as the sun fully set beyond the horizon, Tsunade spun around again. "Shizune, if there is no report by eight tomorrow, I want another squad sent to investigate and find Daiki. And daily reports are mandatory."

Shizune nodded, sensing the urgent tone in the Hokage. "Is there any team in particular you would like me to send?"

"Team Kurenai is still out on a mission of their own," she thought for a moment. "Send Team Gai. Neji's Byakugan will be useful and Gai can be pretty intuitive when he wants to be."

"Yes ma'am, I'll make the arrangements right away," Shizune turned and left the office, leaving the Hokage and her pig by themselves.

Tonton was snoring softly, the only sound in the room now. Tsunade rested a hand on her head and pet Tonton with soothing strokes, not having a good feeling about the situation whatsoever.


	2. Chapter 1: Easing Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His words seemed to do the trick as Tenten brightened significantly. She reached up and tentatively settled her hand on the one that was resting on her shoulder. She patted it a couple of times. Neji felt that jolt of what felt like electricity when her skin made contact with his.
> 
> “Thank you, Neji,” she smiled up at him and her eyes seemed to sparkle slightly. “I promise I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! I know it's been months since I posted the prologue, I'm awful I know! I really am sorry but I do have two good reasons for not posting Chapter 1 until now.
> 
> 1) I'm a college student who hates remote learning because I don't retain half of what I'm taught so I have to devote even more time to school than usual. And I'm still trying to register for next semester and my financial aid applications are being the biggest pain in the ass so I've been annoyed with that. So school sucks, end of story.
> 
> 2) I had 5,000 words written and I hated it. Like, it left a horrible taste in my mouth everytime I read it, hated it. I didn't rewrite the whole thing but about half of it was rewritten and then I added another 2,000 words to make it make sense. So that was time consuming and I would've been so mad at myself if I posted something I wasn't proud of.
> 
> So overall, it's been rough but I've been able to set up a pretty good schedule so I write a little bit every single day. I swear I will get Chapter 2 up a lot faster than this one. Again sorry and thank you for checking this story out. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> And a special thank you to those of you who reviewed! They all made me smile and made me really happy so thank you for taking the time to write them!
> 
> Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

“How the fuck do you make an omelet?” Tenten whispered mostly to herself, brow furrowing in confusion and irritation as she tried to decipher the cookbook in front of her.

Wen didn’t even bother looking up from the newspaper when he responded, “The directions are there, just read them.”

“Thanks for that helpful bit of advice,” Tenten rolled her eyes as she squinted at the book. “Why did grandma have such a convoluted way of explaining things?”

“I could understand her perfectly fine.”

“Then how about you tell me how to make them?”

“I’m busy,” he shook the newspaper for emphasis. “Besides, how will you learn if you can’t make it yourself?”

Tenten huffed, “You’re impossible,” she muttered before reading the recipe from the beginning again. She pulled eggs from the fridge and cracked them over a bowl, adding salt and pepper to the mix.

Wen turned the page in his newspaper and squinted at whatever article he was reading. Tenten bit back her usual glasses comment as she focused on her task.

“What’s happening in the village today?”

“Hardly anything interesting,” Wen sighed. “The festival celebrating the village’s founding is next month. They’re closing the downtown market square for the entire evening.”

“The whole area?” Tenten asked. She added water to the mix before whisking it together. “They’ve never had one that huge before.”

“It’s the seventy fifth anniversary.”

“Wow,” Tenten whistled. “That’s crazy.”

“What is?”

Tenten shrugged, pulling a skillet out from the cupboard. “The fact that the village is only seventy five years old. It feels like it's been here forever.”

“For your forever, it has.” Wen set the paper aside and crossed his arms, looking out the window at the rising sun. “Almost my forever as well.”

“Do you remember anything before the village founding?”

Wen shook his head. “I was just a baby. But even then, the village was still here. It just lacked a name.”

Tenten poured the mix into the skillet. She pulled a spatula from the drawer and flipped it in her hand, a habit she picked up from her constant handling of kunai knives. “It’s still hard to imagine,” she read the next direction and pursed her lips. “Do I flip it like a pancake?”

“No,” Wen sighed in a resigned sort of manner. “Here,” he took the spatula from her and demonstrated, Tenten stepping back to observe. “You push it so the eggs cook. Once that's over you put the filling on half of it and then fold. Then you slide, you don’t flip it.”

Tenten watched him with a practiced eye. “Why couldn’t grandma have just said that in her book?”

“Maybe she wanted to make it a challenge.”

“If she wanted a challenge,” Tenten muttered sarcastically. “It explains why she married you.”

Smack!

“Ow! I was kidding!” Tenten rubbed the back of her head from the surprise headslap.

Wen wore an annoyed expression but Tenten could tell from the glint in his eye that he wasn’t actually mad at her.

“You’re no walk in the park either.” Wen finished the omelet and put it on a plate. “Now make your own.”

Tenten grunted but set about making another, now having a better understanding of the process. “Don’t I deserve a thank you? You know, since I made half of it.”

“Thanks brat,” Wen said in what Tenten knew was a sincere way.

They basked in silence for a few minutes as Tenten made herself one. Once it was finished and she had taken a seat across from him, Wen looked up and began conversation.

“It’s very good kid. You’re pretty good at cooking.”

When Tenten bit into hers, she couldn’t help beaming in pride.

“Yep! Pretty good for a first attempt, huh?”

Wen hummed, “All that practice paid off.”

Tenten gave him a deadpanned look, “Practice? Between you and my team, if I wasn’t able to cook we’d all starve to death.”

“That Hyuuga kid can’t cook?”

“He’s worse than Lee honestly,” Tenten smiled a little at the thought. “One time he tried making dango when Gai-sensei insinuated that he couldn’t do it and Neji would never take a jab to his pride lightly. He finally asked for my help after about fifteen attempts and a ton of wasted ingredients. It was honestly hilarious.”

Wen smiled behind his coffee cup, “It’s surprising that kid asked for help in any way.”

Tenten shrugged, “Not really. He’s the one who asked me to be his sparring partner for the Chunin Exams.”

“Even so, that must have been a difficult request,” Wen said. “The Hyuuga clan in general have a lot of pride.” He gave his granddaughter a look she couldn’t quite decipher. “They must really believe in the other person for them to sacrifice that pride and ask for assistance.”

Tenten could feel her cheeks color at her grandfather’s hidden meaning and shoved a bite of omelet in her mouth to divert attention. Swallowing, she responded, “I just happen to have a skill set that challenges him, that’s all.” She smirked a little in pride. “I am the one who helped him master the Kaiten, you know.”

“I’m aware,” Wen grunted. “You hardly helped me in the shop at all that entire month.”

“Sorry,” Tenten said, genuinely apologetic. “But it was really important for him to master it before the final exam.”

“You don’t need to apologize for wanting your friends to grow and get stronger,” Wen stood with his now empty plate. As he walked toward the sink, he reached out and ruffled Tenten’s hair, grinning at her squeak of displeasure. “I’m just really happy that you got yourself a good team.”

Tenten swatted his hand away but smiled brightly nonetheless. “Me too.”

A tapping at the window captured both their attention. They both turned to see one of the village birds pecking on the glass.

Wen, who was closer, opened the window and the bird immediately stuck its foot out so he could untie the message attached.

He scanned over the contents before passing it off to Tenten.

“You’re being summoned for a mission.”

Tenten couldn’t hold in her sigh, “So much for a day off.”

~~~

Neji didn’t know what the mission was about, but he was sure that whatever suggestions Lee and Gai were spouting were completely off the mark.

Currently, Team Gai was assembled in the Hokage’s office, the Hokage herself absent. Neji stood next to Tenten with Lee on her other side and Gai on the other end.

Lee and Gai were engaged in a pointless conversation guessing what the mission would entail. Neji had effectively blocked them out when the words “infiltrating” and “circus” had been mentioned in the same sentence.

Tenten, however, was still listening. Neji would watch in concealed amusement whenever she rolled her eyes after every outlandish speculation. She got this look which was a combination of annoyance, disgust and horror everytime. It was an expression only Tenten seemed to be able to pull off, perfected over years of being friends with Lee and a student of Gai.

Lee guessed something asinine again and Tenten finally sighed. Neji gave her a lot of credit; if she was a master of weapons, then she was a saint when it came to patience.

“We’ll find out when Tsunade-sama gets here,” she told Lee in a bored tone. “There’s no use guessing.”

“But Tenten!” Lee exclaimed with that childlike enthusiasm. “It’s a fun and youthful way to pass the time!”

“Annoying too,” Neji said under his breath. Tenten let out a quiet giggle next to him and he quirked his lip up slightly at the sound.

“Lee is right!” Gai chimed in, striking his nice-guy pose, his teeth glinting even in the dim lighting. “It is important for a shinobi to think of and be prepared for all outcomes! It is a very youthful way of thinking!”

Lee pumped his fist in the air and agreed and the two launched into another youthful show of exuberance.

Tenten sighed, “I give up.” she spun on her heel to face Neji. “How’d your training with Hanabi go yesterday?”

Neji gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. “She is getting stronger each day, though she wishes she could spend more time training with Hinata-sama.”

Tenten beamed. “Good for her. I wish I had a sister I could train with.”

Neji raised a brow, “I didn’t know you yearned for siblings.”

“I wouldn’t say I yearn for them, but I believe it would be nice to have an older sister to look up to or a younger sister to teach stuff to,” she said with a tiny smile.

“You wouldn’t want any brothers?”

Tenten scoffed. “Who needs blood brothers when I have this one,” she playfully jabbed Lee in the ribs. 

Lee spun around with the sparkle of tears in his eyes. He grabbed Tenten by the waist and lifted her and spun her all the while shouting, “Oh Tenten! I see you as an irreplaceable sister as well! I’m so happy to call you my family!” he was practically sobbing.

Tenten was shouting for different reasons, “Lee! Put me down!”

Neji watched the events before him with a mix of amusement and jealousy. He was immensely glad that Tenten didn’t refer to him as brother material (for what was worse than that?) but that still didn’t confirm anything. And even though he knew there was no way she could be romantically attracted to Lee, Neji still didn’t like watching him put his hands on her so easily.

He was fairly sure that Tenten was attracted to him at least on the purely physical aspect level but he was still pretty clueless on if she liked him in any romantic sense. There had been a few moments of what could be considered as hints, but nothing concrete. It was mainly limited to lingering glances or touches or comments that could be interpreted as something else.

Neji did remember one incident clearly, and it was probably the moment he realized that he was hopelessly in love with her.

It had been on a mission when they were fifteen. The team had gotten surrounded by rogue Iwa ninja and a huge fight had broken out. Neji had surmised that most, if not all of them, were Jonin level. Add to the fact that they were outnumbered almost three to one, it was a pretty dire situation.

But they fought like hell and if it weren’t for the group’s amazing teamwork and trust in each other, they would’ve been finished. Tenten had pretty constantly been behind him, watching his vulnerable blindspot for him. He in turn made sure that she was always covered and had plenty of opportunities to fire her weapons off with deadly accuracy. Their partnership was extraordinary and a near perfect combination.

Halfway through the battle, there had been a massive explosion and Neji and Tenten had been blown away from Lee and Gai. Neji had landed hard against a rock wall and he had known immediately that he had at least one rib broken. The pain blinded him for a few seconds and unfortunately, the enemy ninja had taken advantage of his momentary vulnerability.

Neji had been about to attack at the last second when a kunai came flying out of nowhere and embedded itself right in the center of the back of the ninja’s head.

The body fell forward with a loud thud and Neji immediately looked to the source. Tenten still had her arm outstretched in the throw and she was kneeling on the ground, her other hand assisting in keeping her up.

She looked like a mess. Her clothes were ripped in several places and splatters of blood (he didn’t know if it was her’s or the enemy’s) dyed her white shirt a bright red. Her forehead protector was missing and one of her buns was about to come undone from its hold. The skin that was visible to him was scored with scratches and an ugly bruise was forming on her ankle. A particularly awful looking wound was on her left cheek and the blood was still running down her face. Overall she looked beat up and worn down and ready to collapse. She was heaving breaths and it seemed to take a lot of her energy to keep herself from toppling over.

Despite all that however, all Neji could focus on was the grin that adorned her face. It was a grin of confidence and determination. It was an expression she didn’t wear too often even though Neji wished she would look like that constantly.

She made eye contact with him and her grin got wider. She then proceeded to say something very quietly and it had been a miracle that Neji had managed to hear her above all the noise.

“Let’s show them what we can do, Neji!”

With that declared, she had grabbed a scroll from her holster and pushed off the ground, jumping into the trees to get to cover, Neji copying her movements without a second thought.

It was that moment, with her grinning and determined to win that life or death battle, that Neji knew that his mild infatuation with his teammate had evolved into love.

He watched her now, red faced and embarrassed as she was spun, her cires to be put down being ignored completely. He smiled slightly, it was kind of an endearing sight in a way.

After it had gone on long enough for Neji, he was about to step in and rescue her. Unfortunately, Tsunade entered the room at that moment, pausing in the doorway when her eyes landed on the scene in front of her.

The next second, Lee and Tenten noticed. Lee immediately put Tenten on her feet and stood at attention, acting like he hadn’t just been spinning his teammate around in the air while she screamed at him.

Tenten meanwhile looked absolutely mortified. Neji felt the urge to laugh at her expression. She was the reddest he’s probably ever seen her, most likely a mixture of exertion and embarrassment. She completely avoided Tsundae’s gaze (even though it had been years since Tsunade’s inauguration, Tenten still saw Tsunade as her biggest role model) and she tried to flatten the new wrinkles in her shirt. 

Overall, she looked insanely cute.

Tsunade flicked her gaze between Lee and Tenten before shaking her head (probably reasoning that this was just typical behavior for Team Gai and to not even bother asking) before reaching down and opening a drawer to her desk. She pulled out a scroll and handed it to Gai, her tone now all business.

“The mission I have assigned for you is time sensitive and it requires daily reports back to me,” she folded her hands together on her desk. “One week ago, an old friend of mine sent word that his bar had been attacked and his daughter was kidnapped. He asked for our help to investigate and find his daughter. I sent Daiki Yamashita and his squad and asked them to send daily reports but I have not seen any reports after the first one.”

“Daiki?” Gai looked up from reading the scroll, his thick eyebrows furrowed. “That isn’t like him at all.”

Tsunade shook her head, face looking grim. “It isn’t. That’s why I want your team to locate Daiki’s team and aid in the investigation. Neji, your Byakugan will be most useful.”

Neji gave a firm nod, “Yes ma’am.”

Tsunade nodded at him before focusing her attention on Gai, “I’ve known the client for a very long time and I want to personally know all the details. Find Daiki’s squad: if they’re hurt, send them back to the village immediately. Then I want you to continue the investigation and find his daughter. She’s only twenty and has been missing for over a week already.”

Gai nodded, storing the scroll in his pack, “You will receive daily reports like you request Tsunade-sama.”

Tsunade nodded again and was about to dismiss them before Tenten spoke up. 

“Tsunade-sama?”

“Hm?”

Neji noticed that her expression became a little nervous as she looked Tsunade in the eye.

“If she’s been missing for over a week already…” she paused and stared at Tsunade with worried eyes. “What are the chances of finding her alive?”

Tsunade didn’t respond immediately. She read something in Tenten’s expression that Neji couldn’t interpret before sighing softly and fixing Tenten with a serious look.

“Unless you find a body, assume she’s alive.”

Tenten nodded sharply once before leading them all out of the room.

The team dispersed once they made it outside, agreeing to meet at the village gates in half an hour so they could all grab their gear.

Lee and Gai leapt off immediately, disappearing in two separate green blurs. Tenten was about to do the same before Neji reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

“Tenten,” he said lowly.

She turned back around to face him, her eyes darted between his eyes and the hand on her shoulder, a light pink coating her cheeks. “Neji?”

He ignored her blush, “Are you okay?”

Tenten’s eyes widened and she averted her gaze away from his. She smiled in a way that seemed forced.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Neji didn’t believe her for a second. “Don’t lie to me Tenten.” she opened her mouth to say something but he continued. “The look on your face when you asked Tsunade-sama if that girl was still alive and the way you’re acting now, I can tell there’s something wrong,” he unconsciously gripped her shoulder a little harder. “Don’t leave me in the dark if something is troubling you.”

Tenten looked him in the eyes once again and gave him a smile. It was small and weak but genuine. “It’s nothing really,” she paused and took a deep breath. “It just reminds me of some horror stories I’ve heard.”

That confused Neji. “Please elaborate.”

Tenten shrugged. “It’s…” she paused and seemed to be trying to articulate her thoughts. “It’s just stories from other kunoichi. From what I’ve heard, if a girl is kidnapped and held for that length of time… chances are she isn’t going to be alive after a few days.”

It finally dawned on Neji what she was worried about and he was a little mad at himself for not realizing it immediately. Tenten had every right to be a little off when it came to missions like this, she was a kunoichi after all.

In Konohagakure, female ninja were required to begin advanced kunoichi training when they turned fifteen. It mainly encompassed a host of skills required for undercover, and in many cases, seduction, missions. The training lasted for three years until the girls turned eighteen, then they would be sent out on their first solo undercover mission.

Tenten was a few months away from turning eighteen, so her own first mission was fast approaching. No doubt she had heard retellings of what the older kunoichi had experienced and Neji could only venture to guess that none of them were good ones. Her mind was probably using that information and imagining what their victim was going through.

An involuntary scowl crossed his face. Neji had always found it disgusting that women, girls really, were required to do such things while men didn’t. He himself had been on some undercover jobs. Short ones that only lasted a few days but all the same. He was there mainly to spy and be on the lookout. He has never had to do anything that would mean putting himself out there in any intimate way.

He knew Tenten very well. While she wasn’t a private person for the most part, she still kept things like that to herself, at least as far as Neji was aware.

He remembered when she started. It had been just before their second attempt at the Chunin Exams. She had had to take many rainchecks on their training sessions. She hadn’t told Neji what she was doing, she had just made up feeble excuses. It worried him what she couldn’t just outright tell him what was going on.

It had been fine at the beginning, but slowly, he noticed a slight change in Tenten. She was distracted during their spars (Neji remembered having a very long winning streak for that month) and she wasn’t smiling nearly as much as she normally did. She wasn’t even reacting to a lot of Lee and Gai’s crazy antics. 

Neji had planned on talking to her in private about it, but Gai had pulled him to the side and explained to both him and Lee that Tenten was, quote, “Beginning the training for her blossoming time of youth!”

Neji had of course had no idea what the hell he was even talking about but he used context clues to figure it out.

He had talked to her about it, and while she had been embarrassed, Tenten had still been happy that he cared enough to notice. It took a little while, but after their talk, things seemed to get better for her and she was back to herself pretty quickly.

Though, and seeing her like this now only confirmed it, obviously some things still got to her.

“There’s no way to know for sure that this woman is alright,” he said. “But that is why Tsunade-sama dispatched our team. We’re going to find her one way or another, because our team doesn’t give up. So do not give up on her and do your best to find her, alright Tenten?”

His words seemed to do the trick as Tenten brightened significantly. She reached up and tentatively settled her hand on the one that was resting on her shoulder. She patted it a couple of times. Neji felt that jolt of what felt like electricity when her skin made contact with his.

“Thank you, Neji,” she smiled up at him and her eyes seemed to sparkle slightly. “I promise I will.”

Neji felt those telltale butterflies in his stomach. He squeezed her shoulder once more before pulling his hand away. He turned around so she wouldn’t see any lingering blush on his face.

“Anytime. I’ll meet you at the gate.”

As he jumped to the first roof, he heard her calling after him. “I’ll race you there!”

Neji couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face. “You can try,” he said to himself.

~~~

Tenten pouted when she arrived at the gate not even fifteen minutes later. Not only had she lost to Neji in the challenge she had issued, but Gai and Lee were there already too.

While she should have expected it, it was still a blow to her pride.

She pointedly ignored Neji’s smug expression and faced her sensei. “I’m ready to go whenever you guys are.”

Gai gave her a very disapproving look, “Tenten, I’m disappointed in you. You were the last to arrive and you were late.”

She looked at him incredulously. “Just because I was last to get here doesn't mean I’m late! We agreed to meet in half an hour. I’m here fifteen minutes early!”

Gai shook his head at her, “Then you should strive to be here in five minutes, like myself and Lee here.”

“That’s impossible for any normal human,” Neji said dryly.

“Nothing is impossible through effort!” Gai exclaimed, striking another pose. “Right Lee?!”

Lee shot a fist into the air, “Yes! Gai-sensei!”

As the two entered their own world once again, Tenten shared a look of incredulity with Neji. She rolled her eyes at the dynamic duo while he merely shook his head.

Seeing as the other half of the team was going to be preoccupied with whatever ramblings they were spewing now, Neji seemed to have decided to take the initiative.

“Since this is such a time sensitive mission, shouldn’t we be on our way?”

Gai cleared his throat and broke out of his typical springtime of youth spiel as he nodded once at the other Jonin of the team.

“Yes we shall. Let’s get a move on team! We will get to the village in half the time!”

“Yes Gai-sense!”

“That's physically impossible!”

“Sigh. Why couldn’t I have had normal teammates?”

The four were soon off and zooming through the trees. Due to Gai’s intense training methods, they were moving at a quicker pace than what was normally considered fast. Their stamina was also exceedingly better than any of the other teams. It was still impossible to get to the village in half the normal time, but their travel time would still be shorter.

Tenten jumped from branch to branch focusing only on the wind blowing against her face and the sounds of her teammates beside her, though of course she still kept an eye out for any possible enemy ninja.

She heard Neji land on the branch she had just jumped from. Even when there was no immediate threat of danger, he was always watching her back. It made a warm feeling settle in her chest and her mind went back to their earlier encounter.

Leave it to Neji to notice that she was bothered by something. It seemed like he knew everything that came to her, even small things like being just the tiniest bit distracted. It was reassuring and it made her immensely happy to be able to call him both a teammate and a friend.

At the halfway mark, the team stopped for a water break. Neji turned to Gai.

“What are the details of the mission?”

Gai pulled the scroll from his backpack and unfurled it on the grass as his team crowded around to read it. 

“Yuichiro Taniguchi reported that seven days ago, his bar was vandilized and his daughter, Yuna, who is a bartender at the bar, was missing and presumably kidnapped. He sent the mission request directly to Tsunade-sama due to their history. Tsunade-sama sent Daiki Yamashita, who is a tokubetsu Jonin excelling in on scene investigation, and his squad consisting of Chunin Nobuhiko Watanabe, Kaito Umehara, and Akeno Okamoto on the mission, requesting daily reports and updates on the investigation. A single report came in the first day saying that the squad had arrived in the village and the bar was destroyed. A splatter of blood was found that matches Yuna’s blood type. The report also stated that they would be interviewing other villagers.” Gai sat back and crossed his legs and arms. “There haven’t been any reports since.”

“Do you think anything has happened to Yamashita-san’s team, Gai-sensei?” Lee asked.

Gai nodded. “I’ve known Daiki since we were Chunin, he’s very much a rule follower. If he didn’t report to Tsunade-sama like she asked, there must be a good reason for it.”

Neji put the scroll down once he was finished reading it for himself. “If there was an attack from the enemy, we need to be wary. If they did come under fire, their opponents must have been strong if they were able to incapacitate a Jonin and three Chunin.”

“But why?” Tenten found herself asking. “Is Yuna an important figure? If an enemy is strong enough to take our people down, why kidnap her?”

“Maybe it’s to extract information.” Lee suggested. “Tsunade-sama knows her father.”

“Doubtful,” Neji looked pensive. “Tsunade-sama would’ve mentioned to us if Yuna had any village secrets that could be coaxed out of her.”

“Then why do you think, Neji?”

Neji shook his head. “I have no idea. To me, this just seems like a random attack and kidnapping. If the target was Tsuande-sama, this is not a good way to do it.”

“Right now, it doesn’t matter.” Gai gathered the scroll and stood back up. “Our mission is to find Daiki’s squad and the young lady, Yuna.” He gazed down at his team, grinning at them confidently. “Now let’s go! We will increase our pace tenfold!”

“Yosh!” Lee sprung up into action. “We should go at twentyfold Gai-sensei, with how important this mission is!”

“Yes Lee! We should go faster! So let's go for thirtyfold!”

“Please don’t.” Tenten said in exasperation as she and Neji prepared themselves for the usual faster than what was humanly possible traveling method.

Morning bled into afternoon as they traveled and when the sun was directly overhead, they reached the village. It was a small one that the team had passed through various times. It was there mainly for Konoha shinobi who were returning from missions to have a break before making the final leg of the journey home. It possessed a few inns and bars and a weapons shop. Whenever the team passed through, Tenten made it a point to have a look around and see if she could get her hands on something new. She and her grandfather were recognizable faces to the weaponsmith there.

Gai led them through the village to where the bar was located, apparently having drunk there before. When they reached it, the front window was missing its glass and a large piece of plywood was there instead to keep it closed. The door wasn’t any better.

“Such a shame,” Tenten heard Lee mutter next to her. 

Gai opened the door and Tenten’s eyes widened at the sight. To say the bar was destroyed seemed to be an understatement. The tables and chairs were either all overturned or broken in several places. Glass still littered the floor even though it was obvious there had been an attempt to sweep it all up. There were several fist sized holes in the walls and various posters and flyers were torn to shreds. The bar itself wasn’t in any better shape: there were nicks in the wood that Tenten immediately recognized as knife marks and all the bar stools were in shambles. The glasses behind the counter were practically all broken and there were huge stains of what seemed to be spilled alcohol on the floor. On the wall behind the counter, Tenten could see the blood splatter the reports mentioned.

Overall, the place looked like a war zone.

There wasn’t anyone in the room. Gai turned to his team. “I will go seek out the owner. I want you three to have a look around.”

The three of them nodded as Gai disappeared behind the door that presumably led to the kitchen. Tenten made her way over to the bar and ran her fingers over the knife marks. She began examining them when Lee stated the obvious.

“This is awful.” he stood in front of a broken picture frame. Presumably the picture of the bar owner and Yuna. “Why would anyone do this?”

“That is what we need to figure out.” Neji had activated his Byakugan and was scanning the floor. “Whatever happened here, it was definitely loud.”

“And violent.” Tenten said. “These marks were made from what seems to be a hunting knife, not a kunai.” she turned to her teammates. “We might not be looking for enemy ninja but just criminals who have a flare for violence.”

Neji regarded her. “Is there any blood in the cuts?”

Tenten squinted. “I can’t tell. How about you look, your eyes are better than mine.”

Neji came up to stand beside her and gazed at the marks. Though, instead of just simply standing beside her, he stood incredibly close to her. Close enough that all she had to do was shift her weight and their shoulders would brush.

Tenten could feel her face grow warm but didn’t dare move. She flicked her eyes over to Lee and saw him giving the two of them a knowing look. When their eyes locked, Lee wiggled his massive eyebrows slightly, causing her face to flush even more. She gave him a sour look and averted her gaze.

Lee was a lot more perceptive than many people gave him credit for and Tenten was more than certain that he had figured out her attraction to Neji. Every once in a while, Lee would give her a look or a literal nudge in the right direction. Sometimes even, he might tease her for it, something Tenten would’ve never have expected from him.

Tenten felt Neji’s arm ever so slightly brush hers as he stood straight up again. “I don’t see any traces of blood.”

“A good sign!” Lee exclaimed, erasing any trace of teasing from his expression. “Perhaps Yuna-san wasn’t too badly injured.”

“Maybe,” Tenten looked at the knife marks again. “From the indentions on the wood, it looks like a serrated blade. If it had cut anyone, there would be blood and a lot of it. It would be a horrible wound.” she ran a finger over the counter again, “But…”

Neji looked down at her, still not stepping back even though he really should’ve. Tenten didn’t know if he just hadn’t noticed that he was slightly invading her personal space or if he just didn’t care.

“What is it, Tenten?”

Tenten furrowed her brows slightly and looked up at him. “I don’t think the knives were used to inflict much damage.”

Lee cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean, Tenten?”

Tenten, reluctantly, took a step back from Neji and indicated for Lee to join them at the counter. Once he was standing on the other side of her, Tenten pulled one of her smaller scrolls from her backpack. She unfurled it and then unsealed a large serrated knife. She didn’t use it often because she preferred smooth blades.

She grasped the handle and held it so the other two could see it clearly. “It’s not exactly the same but for the sake of the explanation let's assume that this was the knife used since they’re similar. The blade,” she very lightly ran a finger down the metal. “Is jagged. If you got cut with one, it would most likely penetrate deeper than a kunai would.” she reached down and pulled one from her holster. “Serrated knives are mainly used for sawing rather than cutting.”

Tenten stepped away from the counter and went around it. She kneeled down so she could see the blood splatter on the wall clearer. It had faded to a dark brown but it was still obvious where all the smaller dots were. “This could’ve easily happened from that knife but that's what bugs me.”

“Explain.”

Tenten stood back up and gestured to the room at large. “If they brought a knife like this to a fight, then there should be a lot of blood from it. Yet this is the only blood splatter I see.”

Neji activated his Byakugan and looked at the floor surrounding Tenten’s feet. “I don’t see any other traces at all.”

A lightbulb seemed to go off as Lee understood. “I see! There should be a trail from that point to the doors or windows.”

Tenten nodded. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Neji turned his head to the door Gai had disappeared behind. “Quite a few things about this mission don’t make sense.”

A few moments later, Gai reammerged with a middle aged man walking a few paces behind him. He was much shorter than Gai and seemed to walk with a limp. Though the only thing Tenten noticed about him was his face. 

The best word for it was exhausted. He had black circles under his eyes and his skin was an almost sickly pale. The whites of his eyes were tinted red and his bottom lip was bruised and slightly bloodied, no doubt from biting it out of worry.

Tenten felt such immense empathy for the man that it made her so much more determined to find Yuna.

“Everyone,” Gai addressed them in a very serious tone, one that he didn’t use very often. “This is Yuichiro Taniguchi, the owner of this bar. Taniguchi-san, these are my students, Lee, Neji and Tenten. Tsunade-sama sent us to help with the search.”

Taniguchi managed to give them a weak smile. “Thank you for coming.” His voice was quiet and rough, cracking slightly.

Tenten gave him a warm smile in return. “We’ll do everything in our power to find Yuna, Taniguchi-san.”

Taniguchi nodded. He turned to Gai. “The other team… I have not seen them for a week now.”

“That is part of the reason we were sent.” Gai responded. “The Leaf has not received any of the required reports.”

“I see,” Taniguchi pulled an unbroken chair from one of the tables and sat down heavily. “I hope no harm has come to them.” he turned his gaze to the floor. “If whoever did this has them… I can only imagine what they are doing to my Yuna.”

A beat of silence followed as the members of Team Gai were struck with not knowing what to say. What did you tell a man in this situation? Somehow the stereotypical sayings sounded wrong and untrue.

Tenten felt herself moving forward almost automatically. This man was suffering in the truest sense of the word.

She felt the weight of her teammate’s gazes on her back as she crouched down in front of Taniguchi.

Taniguchi slowly brought his eyes up and locked with hers. Tenten gave him a warm smile.

“Taniguchi-san, I don’t know Yuna at all. But from that picture over there,” she jerked her head in the direction of the broken one Lee was looking at earlier. “You two seem really happy.”

Taniguchi looked at the photo with a hollow gaze. Tenten reached out and lightly took one of his hands in her own and he looked at her again. “I can’t make any promises that we’ll get your daughter back safely because the truth is, we don’t know much of anything.”

She saw Gai shift out of the corner of her eye but she kept going. “But what I can promise you is that we will stop at nothing to try. This room is filled with some of the most dedicated ninja you will ever meet. We won’t give up until we find Yuna. I swear that on my life.” She grasped his hand a little tighter. “So please, stay strong for just a little longer. I believe Yuna wouldn’t want you to give up on her just yet.”

Taniguchi stared at her for a few moments after her speech and then gave her a real, genuine smile, squeezing her hand in return.

“You are truly a kind girl. Thank you.”

Tenten shook her head, “I’m just repeating what someone dear to me said to me. I thought it would do you well to hear them as well.”

Taniguchi nodded. “They have.”

Another warm smile was exchanged when Gai rested a big hand on the man’s shoulder. 

“Taniguchi-san, Tenten is right about everything. Please tell us everything that you know about what happened here last week and anything you know about the squad that was here before us.”

What Taniguchi told them wasn’t much different from the information they already had. Daiki’s squad had arrived, processed the scene and split up. Umehara and Okamoto were sent to interview some villagers and Daiki and Watanabe went to the surrounding woods to have a look around.

Taniguchi had been told not to touch anything in the bar and to wait in his apartment (which was above the bar) until the ninja returned.

Days went by and the squad had yet to return to check in.

Taniguchi sighed weakly, “I just wish there was something I could do. I feel helpless sitting here.”

“You are not helpless, Taniguchi-san!” Lee reassured with as much sincerity he could muster. “As long as you have faith in your daughter’s wellbeing, then she is feeling it wherever she is, I promise.”

Taniguchi looked to Gai, “You have very kind students.”

Gai nodded once in pride. “I do indeed.” he turned to his team. “We will pick up where Daiki’s squad left off. Tenten and I will interview the villagers to see whatever they know. I want Lee and Neji to search the woods on the perimeter of the village. We will all wear radios and I don't want the two of you going out of range, we need to be in constant contact. If you run into anything beyond your abilities, retreat or wait until Tenten and I reach you. Understood?”

The team nodded and separated into their respective teams. Just before Neji and Lee took off for the woods, Neji turned and caught Tenten’s eye. She stared back unblinking, Then she gave him a secret smile and mouthed the words “thank you”.

Neji returned the smile with a “you are welcome” before following Lee.

Tenten smiled at their retreating backs before turning around and trailing after Gai, steeling her nerves.

They had a mission to do and there was no way they weren’t going to succeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! With all the free time granted by quarantine, I should be writing a lot and getting it out relatively quickly. I have the whole thing outlined, I just have to add words (lol). I hope you enjoyed and I apologize for any grammar and punctuation mistakes I missed, I suck at editing my own work.


End file.
